Amusement or advertising device.



I No. 834,707. x PATENTED OCT. 30, 1906'.

' I 0. T. BRADSHAW Gz O. THOMSON.

AMUSEMENT 0E ADVERTISING DEVICE.

APPLIOATID I FILED IA]. 27. 1905.

.. (7342a; 2.257%) m Oscar/Z1 17207735022 ATTORHEY:

UNIIED sr rEs PATENT- OFFICE, a

CHARLES-1i, R D$HAW D- S R M... THQMSQN; QF-BHILADELRHIA. PENN SYLVANIA, ASS-IGNORS. BY DIRECT AND 1 M ESNEI ASSIGNMENTS; 'lO-THE 'ATTRAQTO COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, v

A; OORBORATION or rawr JERSEY:

j speeifie io pf ft rsl te t.

a ented. ,Q ti- 30., 996...

Application filed January 27,19Q5. v Seria1Nq. 2 42,918,,

vices of which the. following is ,afull, clear,

and complete disclosure.

The-object of this invention is-the, roduc:

tion of such ,adevicethatthe samewill have;

novel, interesting, and. illusory. features which twill attract the attention .of personsin the vicinity v of the placewhere the device is located eitherfo'radvertisin'g purposes or for the purposes of amusement.

A further object of this invention is to. produce a device .which will simulatethe appearance of a cannon or, other firearm or piece of ordnance in the act of discharge, while at the same time the projectile or ball will be maintained in mid-air without any visible means of sup ort and at a distance from the mouth of the cannon or other device.

Briefly, our invention comprises a blower or other means for producing a jet or stream. of air, the delivery-tube of which is preferably made in the form of a cannon or similar piece of ordnance or firearm and which is mounted in a manner similar tothose objects. A light ball composed of material which may be inflated to hold it .in its normal shape or may be stiff enough to maintain its shape independently of any inflation is provided in connection with the blower above referred to, and when said blower is in operation said ball will be maintained in the jet of air in the wellknown manner. In addition to the above we may provide a device in the shape of a permanent horeseshoe-magnet, which may be located adjacent the mouth of the cannon and have the appearance of attracting the ball by a force acting in a direction opposite that supposed to be caused by I the discharge of the cannon.

For ,a full, clear, and exact description of one embodiment of our invention reference may be had to the following specification and to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the parts of the device composing our invention., Fag

isia rearyiew. thereof; and Fig. 3 istaivertical sectional ;view.-. taken, substantially upon the line 3 3, Fig. 1.

- Referring to. .the; drawings the. numeral. 1 indicates .a .suitable.,.standard,i upon .Which .is

mounted a tube. n hisi esa n thei erm. ofa

siege gun or howitzer, as indicated j 1at;'2. Said gun or cannon isisupported lnany well-g known manner upon the, frame. 1, as bytruna nions 3 .1 'lhe..l)a se 1 of the cannon orihowitzer is ,made hollow: and contains a suitable. air-forcing devica. uch s...- heen rifuga1- blower, 4, which ,is operated an any. suitable manner, asbybeing directly:- connected t r m electricmotor 6. The. outlet of ;the;bl;ower,4.

isconnected with; the'interi or ,of the. cannonfi by means of, a curved IOLlIIlCli'IlQd tube, as-ini-f dicated at.5:,.

As a device to simulate a projectile to be used in connection with the cannon above described we preferaby form a spherical body of light flexible material, preferably of tissuepaper, which is stiffened sufliciently to cause the sphere to maintain its shape. This sphere or ball should have its surface smooth and even and should be made as light as possible consistent with strength. Such a sphere or ball is indicated by 9 in the draw in s.

adj acent the mouth of the cannon we may place an object in the shape of a horseshoemagnet 7, supported on a suitable standard 8, the poles of said magnet being directed in the same general direction as the mouth of the cannon. The utilization of this magnet, however, is not an essential part of our invention.

Having the above-mentioned parts in mind, the operation of our device comprises the causing of a blast of air to pass through the interior of the tube or cannon 2, which is of sufficient strength to maintain the ball or sphere 6 substantially in one position in said blast. When the parts are placed in this relation to each other, the ball 6 will have the appearance of a projectile just discharged from the cannon, and the magnet 7 will have ICO the appearance of creating a force to prevent the ball from moving away from the mouth of the cannon for a greater distance. Owing to the slight variations in the blast of air caused by the'blower 4 the'ball will have an irregular oscillatory movement, giving it the appearance of tending'to escape from the influence of the imitation-magnet 7. It will thus be seen that we have produced a device which has many features of interest, at traction, and a very apparent illusory effect.

An important feature of our invention resides in the use or employment of a ball made of tissue-paper. It has been found in practice that although a 'ball made of some elastic substance, such as rubber, will serve for a time the purpose of this devce, yet after a certain period the air or gas used to inflate such a rubber ball escapes and causes the ball to contract in. size. On, the other hand, should the gas or air Within such a ball become heated thesame is liable to expand the ball to such an, extent as to burst the same. A ball made according to our improvement of tissue-paper orother similar fibrous mate rial not only requires no inflation, but may be easily caused to assume its original shape should the same become dented or otherwise collapse. A. further im ortant feature of our'invention is the use 0 an inclined jet. c Having thus described our invention, it will be obviousthat certain changes may be made in the form, arrangement, and proportion of parts'and the embodiment of the blower'may bevaried to simulate different objects or articles, according to the use to which the device is to be put as an advertising means or as an object of amusement; but

What we claim, and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In an advertising or amusement device, the combination with means for forcing air in an inclined stream, of a light spherical body adapted to be supported on said stream.

2. In an advertising or amusement device, the combination with means for forcing air in an inclined stream, of a light spherical body comprising a dpaper shell adapted to be supported on sai stream.

3. In an advertising or amusement device, the combination with means for forcing air in an inclined stream, of a light body adapted to be supported on said stream.

4. Mechanism for supporting a ball in space, consisting of an inclined nozzle, and means for forcing air through the same.

5. Mechanism for supporting a ball in space, consisting of an inclined nozzle, a fanblower, and means for conveying air from said blower to the base of the nozzle.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 26th day of January, 1905.

CHARLES T. BRADSHAW. OSCAR M. THOMSON.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. GRADY, EDW. W. VAILL, Jr. 

